Major increase in Islamist threats against Swedish Jews

January 16, 2015 6:10am

(JTA) – The Swedish Jewish community reported a significant increase in threats following terrorist attacks by Islamists in France.

Lena Posner-Korosi, the president of the Council of Swedish Jewish Communities, estimated that the number of threats have doubled following the murder of four people Jan. 9 at a kosher shop outside Paris.

Posner-Korosi said the community does not have exact figures, but most of the threats have been identified as coming from Islamists.

Sweden’s National Council for Crime Prevention recorded 190 anti-Semitic incidents in 2013, of which 61 were classified as threats or insults.

“We are under threat and we have not seen the end,” Posner-Korosi wrote in an email. “It seems to be the beginning of terror around Europe for the coming months.”

Swedish police have beefed up security around Jewish institutions and other potential targets, Posner-Korosi added.

Some 20,000 Jews live in Sweden.

Earlier this week, the Jewish community of neighboring Denmark demanded an increase in security around its institutions.